To facilitate an understanding thereof, the novel functional features of the fabrics of the invention are described in detail below, by exemplifying clothes made of such fabrics.
Conventionally, priority has often been given to fashionability, including color and design, and brand names, and manufacturers have simply relied on the primary characteristics of fiber materials (such as the water absorbing ability of cotton) when producing articles having a permeability, waterproofness and other functional properties.
No fibrous materials, however, are available which have satisfactory functional properties allowing the products to act effectively in summer when the wearers, exposed to strong sunlight, tend to perspire profusely. Women, in particular, often wear clothes with long sleeves to avoid a suntan, and therefore, women's clothes are required to have particularly good properties including a high air permeability and comfortability. Mesh-type fabrics are available to achieve a high air permeability, but are not widely used because the skin or underwear can be seen through them, or because the wearers may suffer from a mesh-like tan.
Recently, many types of closely-woven fabrics with moisture permeability and water repellency have been made commercially available as materials for sportswear, rainwear and umbrellas, but these fabrics have a low air permeability (windbreak performance) and thus are regarded as completely different from the fabrics of the invention, which have a high air permeability. Materials with low air permeability can not provide the comfort associated with high air permeability, even though providing good windbreak performance.
Therefore, there are no fabrics available which have high fashionability as well as high air permeability, together with light-screening ability and waterproofness, as these properties generally conflict with each other.
The above examples are limited to clothing, but fabrics having high air permeability together with light screening ability and waterproofness as described above, if made available, will be useful for a wide variety of applications, in addition to clothing, in various industrial areas.